8mm Forum: Birth of a Cinema

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Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on April 16, 2013, 06:44 AM:

I just had to add this little Derann issue to the film review lists due to the fascinating cinema history content contained in this 120ft super 8 sound film from Derann.

Quite a fascinating little bit of cinema history this super 8 film and we were lucky to see it make it onto super 8 sound. It follows the building of a new Herbert Yapp FORUM Cinema at Ealing being filmed in 1933/34. With Stanley Beard having designed the cinema and being opened in 1934 the film congers up some magical images of golden cinema days, and by the 70’s the building had been updated to seat well over 2000 cinema goers. The commentary is near hilarious but the visual images speak for themselves and are extremely nostalgic. The cinema was opened by no less than Jack Buchanan who when interviewed commented ‘the only thing wrong with the cinema it was not showing one of his films’. Not in this original film but in 1984 the Cinema celebrated a golden anniversary with some of the people who were present at the 1934 opening which must have been something. The bad news is the Cinema closed in 2008 and more recently was knocked down for redevelopment.

Birth of a Cinema
Derann about 120ft B&W poly stock sound.

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